Population
Population is based on the amount of cottages you have as well as several other factors. Several things come in key play which determine your current population and whether it is increasing or decreasing. Population Population is based on the number of cottages you have, their levels, your loyalty rating and your tax rate. These four factors determine your actual population. The number of cottages and their levels determine your population limit which affects your actual (or max) population. Your loyalty rating is directly related to how much you tax your population. For example, if your tax rate is 20% then your loyalty will be 80 as shown in this table. Cottages Cottages, given their upgrade level will allow you to gain more population over time as well as increase your max population limit. See Cottages for more detail on how much each level raises your population limit. The important thing to remember is that the number and level of cottages directly affects your population limit. To raise your population you must build and upgrade your cottages. The number of cottages per city will depend on your playing style and strategies yet it is an important factor in the game since your population affects your tax revenue and your workforce. Since your tax revenue and workforce affect your wealth in gold and resources it is important to increase your population. Loyalty Rating Tax Rate Your tax rate affects the population the most since it affects your loyalty rating. Depending on your tax rate, you can have an upward or downward population growth. This is known as your population trend. Any sudden changes to your tax rate will immediately begin to affect your population. If you increase your tax rate you will begin to loose some of your population, and it will become stable after it reaches a certain point. If you decrease your tax rate, the opposite happens and your population increases until it becomes stable after reaching a certain point. The important thing to remember is that your tax rate equals your loyalty rate and your loyalty rate equals max population. Note: Changing your Tax Rate will not immediately affect your current population As you can see from the table above your tax rate will affect your actual population which will in turn affect your tax revenue yet it is important that you balance your tax rate against two competing interests. Tax revenue and population. While your tax rate affects your population it also affects your income. A low tax rate means higher population while a high tax rate means lower population. On the other hand a low tax rate means less income while a higher tax rate equals more income. Yet, a higher population can also mean higher tax revenues while a lower population can mean a lower income since each citizen will generate revenue. Population Limit The actual or total population is based on your loyalty. For example, if your population limit is 1,000 and your loyalty rating is 80% then your total population will max out at 80%. This is what is referred as a stable trend. A downward and upward trend in the population means that the the actual population is decreasing/increasing to match your loyalty rating and population limit. This is demonstrated in the following table using an 80% loyalty rating. The mathematical formula is pop. limit multiplied by loyalty or 100 * .80. Using this example your stable population is 80. Category:Game Concept